OFFICIALS LEGISLATION INTEREST GROUPS PUBLIC STATEMENTS COMMITTEES VETOES

Department of Defense Appropriations Act, 2019

Floor Speech

Date: Aug. 21, 2018
Location: Washington, DC
Issues: Health and Health Care

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, my amendment No. 3703 is pretty straightforward. It would increase funding for the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline by an additional $2.8 million.

It is a bipartisan amendment. It is fully offset. It is not adding money to the budget. I think it will do a great deal to make sure that anyone battling depression knows there is someone out there who is listening. Our National Suicide Prevention Hotline, as you know, supports the national network of local crisis centers. To date, they have answered more than 10 million calls from people in distress, and they estimate that over the next 4 years, they will take 12 million calls. We underfund them. It is embarrassing how much we underfund them.

Again, this will add an additional $2.8 million to their budget, and it is fully offset.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT


Source
arrow_upward